S Wessely

..See the associated research paper by Jones et al: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/7/57...

..Interventions that address these general variables can be successful, and currently they are often more successful than interventions directed at specific causes...

..However, the experiences of civilians in wartime or the military show that people are not intrinsically risk-averse, provided they can see purpose in accepting risk...

..War time traumatic events are related to subsequent psychological and physical health, but quantifying the association is problematic. Memory changes over time and is influenced by psychological status...

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..We assessed socio-demographic and military factors associated with smoking among males in the UK Armed Forces; made comparisons with the general population; and, tested the hypothesis that smoking has declined in the Armed Forces...

..K. military personnel following homecoming from deployment in Iraq and to examine the impact of deployment-related experiences, such as combat trauma, on violence, and the role of sociodemographics and pre-enlistment antisocial behaviour...

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..To investigate the contribution of psychological symptoms to limited employability for medical reasons in the British Armed Forces...

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..The aim was to determine the prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia in UK military personnel after the Gulf War 1990-1991...

..We investigated whether the pattern of symptom reporting by veterans of the Gulf War differed from that in active servicemen who had not fought in the Gulf War or who had fought in other conflicts...

..CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that stress symptoms and GHQ-12 cases, are strongly predicted both by experiences during deployment and demographic factors...

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..To examine the role of psychological distress, negative life events, social support and lack of fitness (using breathlessness on exertion as a proxy) in the development of new onset fatigue in a primary care population...

..The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that the prior experience of physical illness in childhood is associated with later experience of medically unexplained symptoms...

..To test the hypothesis that such ill health is limited to military personnel who received multiple vaccines during deployment and that pesticide use modifies any effect...

..To determine whether experiencing physical symptoms is associated with a denial of psychological distress in individuals with probable psychiatric disorder...

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..We aimed to test the hypothesis that individuals with self-reported CFS/ME have increased levels of psychiatric disorder prior to the onset of their fatigue symptoms...

..Physical symptoms and psychiatric disorder are associated. We aimed to investigate which comes first...

..To estimate the prevalence of medically unexplained symptoms in patients who most frequently attend outpatient services...

..Psychoeducational programmes aim to reduce the morbidity associated with exposure to stressful events. Although they are widely used, there are conflicting views as to how or why they might be effective...

..Despite having high levels of combat exposure, commando and airborne forces may be at less risk of mental ill-health than other troops...

..The objective of this study was to assess the relationships among chest pain, psychiatric disorder, and early experience of ill health...

..CONCLUSIONS: Patients who are more psychologically minded are more likely to improve with psychological treatments in primary care. General practitioners need to assess this before referring to an appropriate therapist...

..This study demonstrated a small "healthy warrior effect"; persons with better psychological health had a higher chance of being deployed, even after adjustment for predeployment medical fitness...

..Little is known about the patterns of alcohol use in the U.K. Armed Forces or the factors associated with heavy drinking...

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..We advise doctors to focus on subtle features that discriminate between disorders and to use a brief screening instrument such as the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale...

..The Reserves Mental Health Programme (RMHP) provides a clinical service for members of the United Kingdom's Reserve Forces deployed to combat operations since 2003...

..Decompression comprises welfare activities, such as contacting home, beach events, social events, psycho-educational briefings and controlled re-introduction to alcohol...

..There is concern surrounding the psychological health and uptake of treatment services among veterans of the UK Armed Forces...

..The findings suggest a need for better communication and better education of doctors in the diagnosis and management of CFS...

..To report the prevalence of self reported chemical sensitivities in three cohorts of United Kingdom service personnel...

..In this review prevalence estimates of PTSD are summarized and discrepancies are discussed in relation to methodological differences between studies...

..US research suggests that military personnel suffering from mental health problems are reluctant to seek help because of stigma...

..Nothing was found to suggest that, other than for gender-specific health effects, any special considerations need to be made on health grounds for service women in any future deployments...

..Deployment to the 2003 Iraq War was associated with ill health in reserve armed forces personnel...

..Unit cohesion is recognized as a potentially modifiable factor in the aetiology of mental illness among military personnel...

..Trauma-support programmes may benefit employees of organizations that routinely expose their staff to traumatic events. However, in order for such programmes to be effective, staff need to find them acceptable...

..DISCUSSION:Skin disease does not appear to be contributing to ill health in Gulf war veterans, with the exception of an unexplained two-fold increase in seborrhoeic dermatitis...

..The paper will also consider some of the strategies that today's Armed Forces have put in place to mitigate the effects of sending military personnel into danger...

..The authors measured 24-hour urinary free cortisol in a group of well-characterized patients with chronic fatigue syndrome...

..Method: A search of Medline, PsycINFO and EMBASE was conducted, bibliographies of retrieved articles were searched and experts in the field were consulted...

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..However, further surveillance of veterans of the Balkan's War is required in the light of recent concerns...

..If there are convincing differences in prevalence and risk factors across all or some ethnic groups, investigating the causes of these can help unravel the pathophysiology of CFS...

..In 1939 official attitudes hardened and it is commonly stated that few pensions were awarded for post-combat syndromes...

..Little is known about experiences women have had on these deployments, or whether men and women respond differently to combat exposure...

..Early findings suggest that psychological surveillance, if not screening, may yield valuable results when applied to military populations exposed to stress...

..CONCLUSION: In this group of frequent attenders with medically unexplained symptoms outcome as measured by psychiatric morbidity, service use and functional impairment remained poor after 3 years...

..This study aimed to find out the characteristics and possible exposures to DU for those personnel who desire DU screening...

..CONCLUSION: The findings do not support the existence of a unique syndrome affecting a subgroup of Gulf veterans but emphasize the excess of non-specific self-reported ill health in this group...

..A tendency to make somatic attributions in general may be a vulnerability factor for the development of CFS...

..This had been recognized during the First World War when it was shown that the symptoms of stress mimicked those of mild exposure to gas. Debate about long-term effects followed the suggestion that gassing triggered latent tuberculosis...

..UK and US military personnel appear to have different health profiles yet direct comparisons of health status and deployment exposures between US and UK military populations have never been performed...

..The clinical significance of this is unclear. We aimed to determine whether hypocortisolism exerted any effect on the response of CFS to cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)...

..The psycho-behavioural predictors found in this study are amenable to intervention. Such interventions should be tested in randomized controlled trials...

..With the exception of intrusive thoughts, there is insufficient evidence to suggest predeployment psychological status would be useful in correcting for recall bias in subsequent cross-sectional studies...

..Others have suggested that PTSD is a novel presentation that has resulted from a modern interaction between trauma and culture...

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..To assess the response to a self-administered questionnaire and attendance of a medical centre for physical and psychological health screening...

..The purpose of this paper is to establish whether these 13 different syndromes are discrete entities...

..UK veterans who were deployed to the Gulf in 1990 to 1991 reported higher prevalence of neuromuscular symptoms...

..It is also suggested that advice currently offered to chronic patients, to avoid physical and mental activity, is counterproductive...

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..This study evaluated the long-term outcome of cognitive behavior therapy versus relaxation therapy for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome...

..Today, as a result of lessons learned in the First and Second World Wars, numbers can be predicted on the basis of battle intensity and effective clinical interventions applied...

..CONCLUSIONS: Medically unexplained symptoms are common across general/internal medicine and represent the most common diagnosis in some specialities. Medical behavior, training, and management need to take this into account...

..It follows that the Armed Forces need to consider how best to address and prevent trauma-related problems both from duty of care and organizational effectiveness viewpoints...

..The aim of this article is to determine if a GW health effect persisted when the same questions were asked in a "non-GW" context...

..quot; Respondents' opinions about the peacekeeping experience vary greatly. Additional training addressing and exploring potential conflicts between the traditional role of the soldier and the role of the peacekeeper may be useful...

..UK armed forces personnel who took part in the 1991 Gulf war experienced an increase in symptomatic ill health, colloquially known as Gulf war syndrome. Speculation about an Iraq war syndrome has already started...

..RESULTS: Patients had a lower cortisol response to awakening, measured by the area under the curve. CONCLUSIONS: This naturalistic test of the HPA axis response to stress showed impaired HPA axis function in CFS...

..To discover whether post-combat syndromes have existed after modern wars and what relation they bear to each other...

..The purpose of this study was to identify the factors associated with poor outcomes for personnel leaving the United Kingdom Armed Forces early...

..The aim of this paper is to act as a starting point for a debate on race and CFS...

..Longitudinal studies of populations at risk for CFS will help to resolve these issues...

..With usual medical management the majority of patients report that their symptoms persist and become chronic. There is little evidence for the effectiveness of any fatigue management in primary care...

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..Causal attribution influences symptom experience, help-seeking behaviour and prognosis in chronic fatigue syndrome. We compared causal attribution of patients with unexplained chronic fatigue (UCF) in Brazil and Britain...

..The findings provide evidence that for some people, the policy to increase confidence in the anthrax vaccination program may have led to a decrease in levels of trust...

..It suggests that the threshold for reporting symptoms has decreased and cannot be explained by psychological distress. The possible implication of this trend for medical practice in the wider population deserves close scrutiny...

..The aim of this study was to compare the burden of mental ill health in deployed medics with all other trades during the Iraq war...

..This study reports how neurologists in the UK described dealing with this dilemma in their practice...